Computing

According to media reports the Liberhan Commission has absolved Mr. LK Advani of direct complicity in the conspiracy to demolish the Babri Masjid but has indicted him for the Rath Yatra and for creating an environment to encourage the demolition. The Commission has accused Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi and other BJP leaders of supporting the Ram Janbhoomi agitation. It has indicted Ms Uma Bharathi of encouraging the mob to demolish the Mosque. It has indicted former PM the late Narasimha Rao of not doing enough to stop the demolition.

Ms Uma Bharathi in a forthright statement acknowledged that she had wanted the Mosque to be demolished and was glad that it fell, but she had no prior knowledge of the demolition. She claimed that neither did the senior BJP leaders have prior knowledge. She accepted constructive responsibility for the demolition. Her statement appeared to be direct and candid.

Assuming that the senior leaders of the BJP lacked foreknowledge of the demolition, how did it occur? Was it through spontaneous action by the demonstrators or was it preplanned? If it was preplanned who planned it? In September 1997 the late KR Malkani, then Vice President of BJP, stated that ISI provocateurs had infiltrated the karsevaks to carry out the demolition. To many this claim appeared outlandish. Was it? Malkani was a senior journalist and former editor. Why did he say this five years after the demolition? For sake of argument let us give a fair hearing to Malkani's allegation. Consider some facts.

Incontrovertible Fact One: One year before the Babri demolition the Jain Hawala diaries were seized. According to them big politicians including top leaders of the BJP received hawala funds prior to the general election. The payments were distributed in Delhi by Moolchand Shah who was an aide of Dawood Ibrahim. Because big politicians were involved this TADA case was converted into a corruption case and Moolchand Shah was quietly let off the hook.

Incontrovertible Fact Two: The largest contingent of karsevaks who demolished the Babri Masjid was led by Mr Brij Bhushan Saran Singh, then BJP MP from Gonda. Subsequently, appearing in another TADA case he admitted to the court that he had links with Dawood Ibrahim. While he was in detention in a TADA case the BJP fielded his wife in his Lok Sabha constituency. At present he is an MP representing the Samajhwadi Party.

Incontrovertible Fact Three: In the Mumbai bomb blasts and the riots that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid the police arrested and convicted Dawood's aide Moolchand Shah for distributing funds to those who perpetrated the bomb blasts. Indian Intelligence agencies have claimed that Dawood Ibrahim has close links with ISI and has carried out operations at its behest.

Incontrovertible Fact Four: In the recent Malegaon terrorist blast investigation the police have claimed that ISI has infiltrated and funded sections of the Sangh Parivar.

If true, was such ISI infiltration in the Sangh Parivar new or did it have a history? It should be noted that when leaders of separatist or extremist organizations are caught napping by some violent act perpetrated by their purported followers they invariably react to defend the acts whatever their private reservations. This tendency is inevitably exploited by subversive hostile forces.

If the Babri demolition was indeed carried out by a hostile foreign force it does not absolve the BJP. It makes the indictment against it more severe. Not only was the party pursuing a communal agenda ' it was doing so stupidly and inefficiently. As a porous organization it allowed infiltration, subversion and manipulation by hostile forces. It became a national security risk.